Fireworks on the National Mall 2014

Happy 4th of July! I hope some of you shooters went out last night to photograph fireworks. Fireworks can be anywhere. In your neighborhood, in a park, or even your backyard, if you happen to own a house. I took these on the National Mall, and what an exciting time! It takes a lot of practice to get a good one, but today's digital cameras make it easier.

Bahamas Yellowtail Snapper

Wow! A Yellowtail Snapper. I had my Olympus waterproof camera with me on this Bahamas snorkeling adventure. I had to zoom the lens all the way out, since these guys don't like to get too close.  I actually had to also dive down toward this one to get this shot. If you like to snorkel and always wanted to get photos of the undersea world, then go out and get yourself a waterproof camera. Nikon and Olympus make the best. Happy photo adventure to you all!

Macro of Tiger Lily

Ok shooters! The Tiger Lily is one of my favorite flower subjects. The brilliant orange and yellow colors of this flower drives any bee species crazy. I used a Fujifilm X10 rangefinder camera set to macro for this shot. Actually, all the macro shots for this month were taken with the X10. The macro feature on cameras also helps create shallow depth of field. The shutter speed of 1/500 Sec. and the aperture of f/4.0 created the depth of field necessary for this visual perspective.

Macro of Lily

Hey photo gang! Here is another in the series of macro shots for this month. The lily flower shown is called the wedding lily. This is an example of how you can crop down to the image from a larger photo. Give it a try!

Macro Photo

Hello my photo friends! This month I'm going to showcase several close-up images. How is this type of photo done, you may ask? First one has to understand that a close-up image is produced utilizing the correct camera setting. Your camera probably has a image icon of a flower. Turn on this setting and take as many pictures as needed to get the right image that you like. The one I took here was not as close as it looks. I simply cropped the photo in photoshop to make it appear even closer. You can do this even with your smart device, but a point and shoot camera will give you better results. So, get out your camera, a flower out there is ready for you. This type of image displays how the world is small around us, and how it really comes to life when we photograph it.

My photo on exhibit at the Gallery at the Leica Store, DC

I was at the Leica Second Annual Juried exhibition, "Beauty" last night, and have a photo in the show. My two photos were among the semifinalist. This one made it to the final round. Great energy and some very good images! The show is not up yet on their web gallery (http://shop.leicastoredc.com/gallery) but keep checking, and if you are in DC, go check out the photos of some amazing photographers at the Leica Gallery in the Leica Store on F St.

Rush Hour Rain

Hey, guys and gals! Grab your camera on a rainy day and take a image like this. Use your smart phone, no excuses, and shoot through glass. I took this one while on a metro bus. The signs, the rain, the cars, and the blurred lights created a kaleidoscope effect. I love it! So, get out and push your creative side to the edge of the universe!